


paranoia // reddie ★彡 a losers club hogwarts AU

by fightclubsoundtrack



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Ben Hanscom Loves Beverly Marsh, Best Friends, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Beverly Marsh Knows Everything, Beverly Marsh Lives With Her Aunt, Bill Denbrough & Eddie Kaspbrak Are Best Friends, Bisexual Bill Denbrough, Bisexual Disaster Richie Tozier, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Closeted Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier Bickering, Eddie Kaspbrak Has a Crush, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, Established Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Everyone Is Gay, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Panic, Gay Stanley Uris, Losers Club (IT) Friendship, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mike Hanlon Deserves Love, Mike Hanlon Deserves Nice Things, Movie: IT (2017), Movie: IT Chapter Two (2019), Multi, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Richie Tozier Has ADHD, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Stanley Uris is So Done, Teenage Losers Club (IT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:20:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23452339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fightclubsoundtrack/pseuds/fightclubsoundtrack
Summary: paranoia/ˌparəˈnɔɪə/the irrational and persistent feeling that people are 'out to get you'.•••not ALL reddie but that's the focus.idk how to write descriptions but just roll with it.the Losers Club from IT in the Harry Potter universe.different sort of time scales: based 10 years after the battle of hogwarts but in the present day.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom & Beverly Marsh, Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough & Stanley Uris, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	paranoia // reddie ★彡 a losers club hogwarts AU

Eddie didn't think he'd been so nervous but excited for anything before. Honestly, he pretty was embarrassed about it. What sort of lame freak gets excited over going back to Hogwarts? Eddie Kaspbrak did apparently.

_It's totally normal, he rationed to himself. I mean, it's our last year._

_Fuck_. The last year. If Eddie had been told he'd make it this far as a first year, he would have been gobsmacked. He didn't really expect his mum to let him finish.

Sonia Kaspbrak _still_ didn't want her son to finish Hogwarts, and so Eddie had spent the entire car journey to Kings Cross station so far on his phone with earphones in; drowning out the never-ending, overbearing fretting. Ben and Mike's idea for the whole group to buy and charm phones may have been the greatest idea they'd ever came up with and was the only thing that got him through yet another summer of near total isolation- bar the few times his mum let him stay over at Bill's since he lived nearby and the grand total of 3 days in which he snuck out and saw Richie, the only one in the group who was confident with his apparition ability. He drummed his fingers off his thigh, as a song ended and he overheard his mum's whining for a split second. _Fuck it_ \- he thought, and opened the messages app to text the group chat.

**To: The Losers Club**

**SpaghEDDIE: _Please tell me someone is going to be at the platform in the next 20 mins or so???_**

**SpaghEDDIE: _Idk what I'll do if I have to wait with mum she keeps telling me I'm going to die_**

He locked his phone again, putting it face down on his lap- he'd feel it when someone replied and his mother wouldn't see it. Eddie drifted his gaze back over to the window, until his mother's nasally voice brought him back to reality.

"Edward? Edward, are you listening to me?"

He squeezed his eyes shut as he paused his music, before turning his head round to his mum.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

Sonia made an agitated noise before rolling her eyes.

"I _said_ , I've heard that there's two new teachers coming in this year. They must be eager to change things with the anniversary coming up."

"Oh, yeah. They must be," he replied, unpausing his music and going back to staring out the window.

The Anniversary. How had he forgotten? The last term of this year brought the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, which ended the Second Wizarding War. Eddie was mentally kicking himself out of pure shame. He lost his father in the war and he had fucking _forgotten_ that it would soon be a decade since- over half his life.

Eddie's father had been a muggle-born, who was intending on fleeing to avoid capture and keep his family safe. However, the Death Eaters were tipped off about his father's blood status and Frank Kaspbrak was killed after opening the front door during dinner, expecting a neighbour and not a Death Eater. Eddie had watched it happen. He knew his mum was such an overbearing hypochondriac because of this, fearing the same could happen to her son. Eddie knew that was ridiculous- after all, he was a half-blood and Voldemort was dead.

Eddie knew that he had it better than some of his friends in terms of the trauma from the war. After the battle, all of Richie's family were arrested bar his parents for being Death Eaters (though Richie confided in Eddie that they were death eaters too and bribed their way out of Azkaban and he feared the acts that he knew they committed). Richie ended up sorted into Slytherin, making it even harder for him to shake off the stigma that came attached to the Tozier family name- but by fuck, he had done quite well. Beverly's mum was tortured and killed during the war for refusing to give up the whereabouts of other muggleborns in hiding once she was caught- causing her father to have a total psychotic break and heavily abuse Beverly until she moved in with her aunt. Stan's family are seen as blood traitors by some of the other pureblood families for their refusal to join the ranks of the Death Eaters, and although the label and comments thrown at him by other students do hurt him- he knows that he's so lucky to not be mourning his loved ones.

Bill had it the worst of anyone by far, without a doubt. His father was teaching Study of Ancient Runes in Hogwarts at the time, and thought the school would be the safest place for the family. He thought wrong. When the battle broke out, Bill witnessed all the horrors of war that a 7 year old should never have to see and more. His baby brother Georgie, only a year old, went missing- thankfully to be found being taken care of by centaurs in the forbidden forest weeks later. Bill's parents were pretty distant with him as a result of the battle, not even bothering to try and get him help with the severe stutter he'd developed as a result of his own trauma.

Ben and Mike were so lucky to be muggleborns.

Eddie broke himself out of his thoughts, knowing it would upset him a lot if he thought much further about it, and checked at his phone. 12 new notifications.

**From: The Losers Club**

**Bevvy-Wevvy: _The train I'm on right now gets into Kings Cross in 15 minutes_**

**Stan the Man: _I'm Already Here._**

**Trashmouth: _if u need ur mum to shut up i'm sure i can do it easily Eds ;))_**

**Trashmouth: _tell her she'll be reunited with me for a brief moment of passion in as soon as 10 mins_**

**Stan the Man: _Beep Beep, Richie._**

**Bevvy-Wevvy: _Richie don't start this again_**

**Trashmouth: _ur no fun >:(_**

**Bichael: _I won't be too long either_**

**Big Bill: _I've been here ages, mum and dad want to make sure Georgie is sure of what to expect since it's his first time_**

**Bevvy-Wevvy: _awwwwwww_**

**Benjamin: _I should be there around the same time as Bev_**

**Bichael: _The gangs almost back together again!_**

Eddie rolled his eyes. Trust Richie to be a dirty bastard about all of this. God, Eddie was really beginning to question _why_ he had this persistent fucking crush on the boy. Not that he'd ever tell him that, though.

**To: The Losers Club**

**SpaghEDDIE: _Richie I'm going to fucking hurt you_**

**SpaghEDDIE: _Thank you everyone else for your helpful answers <33 Miss you all and see you soon_**

Eddie turned his phone over on his lap once again, before looking out the front windscreen and almost doing a double take at just his close they really were to the station. He guessed 5 minutes, maximum. The excitement and nerves in his stomach intensified.

"Eddie, I need you to listen to me now."

Sonia's voice jolted him a bit, the tone so different from her usual worry. He paused his music.

"I'm listening."

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about what's to come"

Eddie began to protest.

"Don't cut me off," Sonia said, raising her voice. "This isn't the typical worry. I've heard of visions and prophecies. I've read tea leaves several times this week and you know what I've seen? A cross, a falcon, a skull and the grim. You know what those mean don't you?"

"Uhm..." Eddie hesitated for thought for a moment. "Trials and suffering, a deadly enemy, danger in one's path, and death."

"That's what I've read for our society. The visions and prophecies I've heard of are about a new dark force. Bad things are foreseen in the near future."

Eddie felt uneasy, he knew his mum didn't do much divination without good reason.

"Mum, I'm still going on to Hogwarts. You aren't changing my mind."

"I wasn't expecting to. If it was up to me, you never would have gone at all. I'm merely warning you of what is foretold.

"Okay..." Eddie trailed off, unpausing his music yet again, a pixies song playing softly in his ears. Hey, muggle music wasn't bad. He glanced at his mum, who appeared completely fine as if she hadn't even said a word. Eddie grimaced, turning his phone on.

**From: The Losers Club**

**Trashmouth: _u love me really shortie_**

**Bevvy-Wevvy: _We all miss you too Eddie_**

**Stan the Man: _Can Someone Please Hurry Up? Bill's Parents Are Lecturing Him And I Think I've Just Spotted Richie._**

**Bevvy-Wevvy: _Oh fuck, I'm getting off my train now Stan I'll run to you_**

**Trashmouth: _am i really that bad_**

**Bichael: _Lol yes it's literally 10:30am no one wants to deal with your shit_**

**Bichael: _Also, I'm almost at the barrier_**

Eddie blushes at Richie's first message. Yeah, so what if he did? He angry reacted the message instead.

**To: The Losers Club**

**SpaghEDDIE: _I'll be 2 minutes_**

**SpaghEDDIE: _And Richie I'll castrate you if you go within 10 foot of my mum_**

They were pulling into the carpark now and Eddie leaped out to get his bags the moment the car stopped, much to his mum's dismay.

"Eddie-boo, what's the rush?"

"My friends are waiting and I have less than half an hour before the train."

"That's plenty of time to say goodbye to your old mummy-"

"No. Not this time. We need to find an empty carriage."

"I'm walking you to the platform."

Eddie sighed. "Fine."

Sonia didn't stop to breathe the entire time it took to walk to the wall that Eddie would soon have to run through, too busy lecturing Eddie about all the medication she insisted he needed.

Eddie stopped dead beside platform 9. He wasn't letting his mum come through with him this time. He wasn't going to let Henry Bowers tease him about her again. He shuddered involuntarily. _Henry Bowers_. His mum walked on a couple feet before noticing he wasn't beside her. Her lip wobbled. _Ah shit_ , he thought, _here we go again_.

"Eddie, come on now. Don't do this to your poor mummy."

"I'm fine crossing the barrier on my own."

She began to attempt to plead with him about how she's her precious baby boy, but Eddie had decided- enough was enough. Besides, he had just spotted Ben walking towards him.

"Mum, I'm going on without saying goodbye if you don't say it here."

It's almost as if Sonia could sense the presence of one her son's friends, choosing to say goodbye in an incredibly over the top and greatly horrific way. She grabbed him in a tight hug and pressed countless kisses all over him, cooing that her little Eddie-poos needs to be careful. Except, it wasn't really a hug for long- as Sonia gripped Eddie tighter and said, with gritted teeth, "Stay the fuck away from the Tozier kid," before letting him go. Eddie felt himself pale, as his mum went back to her normal self and began to further remind Eddie about his medication.

Eddie rolled his eyes and waved, turning to walk towards Ben, who had waited patiently to the side for him.

Ben pulled Eddie in for a bear hug.

"God," Eddie began, "I've missed you mate. I've missed all of you."

"Missed you too Eddie. What did your mum say there? Saw your face change."

"The usual, to stay away from Richie."

Ben snorted as he let go of Eddie.

"As if you could do that if you tried."

Eddie felt his cheeks heating up.

"I- I don't know what you could possibly mean."

"Maybe this is the year you'll grow a pair of balls. C'mon, everyone is waiting on us."

Eddie turned to his mum one last time, smiling and waving for a moment as she pretending to dry tears from her eyes.

And with that, the two boys grabbed their things and ran through the barrier to platform 9 and three quarters.

•••

Eddie barely had time to register that he was standing on platform 9 and 3 quarters before he heard the cheering from his friends, clearly happy to see him and Ben after such a long break.

The moment the two had approached the group, Richie grabbed Eddie and pulled him into a tight hug- which Eddie had no qualms with returning. When they (unfortunately, in Eddie's mind) let go, Richie exclaimed "Shit, Eddie! Where's your mum? Was thinking of making it official after all these years."

"Why you fucking bastard I'll-" Eddie began, thankfully being cut off by Bev pulling him in for a hug. Eddie kind of felt like a groupie, passing from person to person being greeted. He didn't mind it though. They're his best friends, he'd fucking missed them.

"Shit!" Mike exclaimed, breaking through the peaceful catch-ups. Everyone looked at him. Eddie, ever the dramatic one, clutched his heart.

"Train leaves in 10 minutes, we need a carriage!"

With the sheer amount of students attending Hogwarts, finding a totally empty carriage was near impossible. But somehow, they managed it. They always did. Even if Stan, Eddie and Mike did have to go the prefect's meetings during the journey, which Richie called the "Suck-up Squad." Eddie still couldn't believe that he was a prefect, surely association with Richie fucking Tozier was enough to be deemed unsensible? Apparently not to McGonagall. Besides, Eddie knew how young he looked- how the fuck were first years going to take him seriously? It had been a task and a half last year, with a few of the first years actually taller than him.

•••

"I would like to once again remind you all that prefect pins are to be worn at all times you are in uniform-"

The meeting was boring, the same as last year. It was essentially just going over rules and making sure everyone knew their powers. It seemed pointless to Eddie, seeing as he'd reread all the guidelines the previous day to refresh them. He definitely couldn't skip the meeting though, Stan had been selected as Head Boy- he wasn't going to leave one of his best friends when he was doing m something Eddie knew he had worked so hard for.

Eddie's phone buzzed in the middle of the meeting, Stan rolled his eyes and distracted everyone with a couple questions so he could check it.

**From: Trashmouth Tozier**

_**will u hurry up slut i'm fuckin bored** _

Ugh, Eddie sighed. Of course it's Richie. He could never be truly mad at him though. Even if he called him a slut. _Unbelievable!_ Eddie thought. I mean seriously, he gets a bit too drunk off firewhiskey one time and now Richie's calling him a slut? _Unbe-fucking-lievable._

**To: Trashmouth Tozier**

_**It would be finished quicker if you'd fuck up** _

He put his phone away, and attempted to focus on what was being said. Easier said than done, although, as Eddie's mind was once again filled with Richie.

Mike may or may not have had to give Eddie a couple subtle taps to make sure he at least _looked_ alert, but Eddie would definitely not admit that.

•••

"Holy fuck. I mean, this is happening. This is our last fucking year. What the fuck? What am I meant to do after this?" Eddie exclaimed, fiddling for his inhaler in the pocket of his jacket. He found it and quickly gave himself a couple puffs, sinking back into his seat.

"I mean, I think I'm going to finally move in with your mum Eds-"

Eddie shoved Richie before he even finished his sentence, Richie bumped into Stan- who looked absolutely appalled, sighing out a _"Beep beep, Richie"_ as per usual.

Their carriage was pretty cramped, with Beverly sitting on Ben's lap because Richie insisted he needed to spread out. Eddie still couldn't get over Ben finally telling Beverly he liked her in sixth year, they all thought it was so obvious but never thought Ben would admit it. Eddie wished he had a relationship like theirs. But no, he _had_ to be the only gay kid in the year. Well, the only openly gay kid. Stan was gay but only the Losers knew that, whereas everyone knew about Eddie due to one particularly unfortunate night. He supposed he couldn't complain, though. His friends all accepted him for that. He took another quick glance around the carriage. It was so roomy in their first year, surely they hadn't grown that much? The carriages had to be getting smaller.

"I-I can't b-believe this is the l-last time we're e-ever m-making this journey." Bill said. "Times went s-so fast."

"Yeah, who actually expected Richie to make it into his N.E.W.T.s?" Mike added, earning a few laughs and a scowl from Richie.

"Excuse me, I'm fucking smart okay?" he replied. Eddie couldn't really argue with that. Richie was level with him and Stan in terms of their O.W.L results, no matter how much he slacked off.

"Maybe the teachers fear your family too much to not give you good grades." Eddie mused.

"Nah," Ben added, pausing to let Beverly move so that everyone could see him. "If Richie was getting sympathy grades, Binns wouldn't have kept trying to fail him in History of Magic." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"If I wanted to do well in it I would've," Richie quipped back, defensively. "However, I didn't care."

"How come you kept asking me to help you in the common room in the evenings then, Richie?" Beverly chimed in.

Richie glared at her. "I got an Exceeds Expectations in the end, didn't I?"

"Only with my help" Beverly fired back.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid," Richie replied, stretching- much to Eddie and Stan's dismay.

"Richie!" Eddie squealed, as Richie's elbow planted in his ribs.

"Fuck off," Stan whined, as Richie's hand found itself on the side of his face.

Richie grinned as the bell rang, signalling that the students needed to get changed into their robes. They'd be at Hogwarts in half an hour.

•••

Richie had seemingly decided that performing a dance routine with Beverly involving their Slytherin ties in place of ribbons was a better idea than getting changed. At least, he thought that until Stan started yelling at them. Eddie thought it was pretty funny though, and he couldn't deny that Richie had moves. At least, he couldn't deny that to himself. To other people? Definitely.

Eddie smiled softly looking around the room when everyone was finally changed. Pre-war, a friendship group like their one was pretty unlikely. Richie, Stan and Beverly were Slytherins. Eddie and Bill were Gryffindors. Mike was a Ravenclaw. Ben was a Hufflepuff. They were all different blood statuses too. Richie, Stan and and Bill were purebloods. Eddie and Beverly were half-bloods. Mike and Ben were both Muggleborns. They clearly had such massive differences in personality and values to fit into different houses, working as a group of friends for so long had to be a miracle. Even the differences between people in the same house were shocking- Stan and Richie were complete opposites, and were not only the same house but had been friends from infancy. Bill was so much braver than Eddie, in Eddie's eyes anyway, and they were both Gryffindors that had been friends since they were 4. Eddie knew he wouldn't change any of them for the world. They all fit together like puzzle pieces, they belonged as a group. The Losers Club. That's what they were born to be.

Eddie looked out the window. It was tradition at this point that he always had to have a seat beside the window on the train. He could see buildings in the distance, and pulled Richie's arm to get his attention.

"Hogsmeade," Richie mumbled to him grinned. "Guys, guys, guys." Everyone looked at Richie as he pointed at the window.

"We're almost there." Mike said, smiling.

Of course, this wasn't a calm moment for long. Everyone scrambled up to get their bags at once, eager to leave the moment the train stopped at Hogsmeade station.

Richie shoved Eddie and Stan to the side in order to grab his cases from both above their heads and below the seat. Eddie was pretty ashamed of how high pitched his shriek was. It made Richie laugh though, so of course Eddie had to smile. Was it really so obvious that Eddie had a crush on Richie? The wink from Ben when Eddie caught his eye certainly suggested so. Eddie felt his cheeks start to heat up as he flipped Ben off.

The moment the train ground to a halt, Richie threw the compartment door open- grabbing his bags and running off the train, pulling Eddie with him.

"Richie what the fuck?" Beverly laughed from behind them.

"Eds is too slow," Richie called over his shoulder.

"No I'm not! And that's not my name Richie!"

"Whatever, cutie pie." Richie grinned.

Eddie's cheeks burned, yet again.

"Fuck off."

•••

The Thestrals always scared Eddie- not just with their skeletal appearance, but also because only those who had witnessed death were able to see them. Out of the 7 Losers, Mike and Ben and Stan were the only ones who couldn't see them. That worried Eddie, knowing Richie could see them- seeing as he had never really told the group about what you would witness in a family of Death Eaters in the War. Eddie knew more than everyone else about Richie's family, but he didn't know that Richie had seen people die until Richie mumbled to him that he could see the Thestrals pulling their carriages. Eddie swore to himself that he would try and get the truth out of Richie at some point, not wanting him to deal with all that trauma on his own forever.

•••

House separation wasn't much of a thing at Hogwarts anymore, post-war. Sure, there were still massive long tables for each house- but if your friends were in a different house, sitting at that table was fine. Hence, with the Loser's Club all finding themselves in different houses, they moved from table to table for meals depending on who managed get down to the Great Hall first. The Slytherin table was the least favourite to sit at, although, with none of them wanting to be that close to Henry Bowers for an entire meal. Eddie could only handle being called a _fag_ so many times.

They'd made a tradition of sitting at the Gryffindor table on the first day of the year. This year was no exception, no matter how many Gryffindors were unhappy about Richie Tozier joining them- with several students around their age looking at him and sighing, knowing it wouldn't be a quiet start to the year, and younger students looking at him in fear. Eddie knew that people being afraid of Richie hurt him, and that it's part of the reason why he tried his best to be class clown- thinking it's better to irritate people than have them fear him. No one else knew that though, and Eddie wasn't going to tell.

A silence fell over the Great Hall as this year's first years were lead in. Bill had an iron grip on Stan's arm- giving Georgie an encouraging smile when he caught his eye, before borderline hyperventilating the moment the younger boy looked away.

"It's alright, Bill," Stan comforted him, "No matter what, he has one of us with him."

Bill had seemed to forget that fact, and smiled at Stan when he said it, evening out his breathing as Eddie rubbed his back from his other side.

Eddie zoned out until he heard the familiar name being called.

_"George Denbrough"_

Eddie felt Bill freeze beside him.

"F-fuck. Fuck. Shit." Eddie put his hand out and let Bill grip it. He grimaced, it did hurt, but that's what friends were for.

The sorting hat seemed to contemplate for a moment before bursting out a "GRYFFINDOR," causing Bill to let out a small shriek. Richie looked at Eddie facing him, who was clearly trying his best not to laugh at the noise. Eddie gave him a half-hearted scolding look before averting his eyes, knowing Richie would make them both laugh.

Bill excused himself from the rest of the group to introduce himself to Georgie's friends after everyone had congratulated Georgie, dragging Eddie with him as he was a Gryffindor prefect. Eddie had no idea what to do, but he crouched down beside them anyway.

"Hiya, I'm Eddie Kaspbrak and I'm a prefect," he gave them a warm smile, as Georgie grinned and his friends introduced themselves. "It's nice to meet you all, welcome to Hogwarts! If you ever need me for anything, whether it be homework help or just because you want someone to talk to or anything else, don't hesitate to come and find me, alright?" Georgie's friends all smiled at Eddie and thanked him, and he ruffled Georgie's hair as he got up. Before turning to go back to his friends, Eddie added a last little comment, "Oh! If you're gonna break school rules, make sure I don't see it," Eddie winked at the younger students as he walked off, making them laugh as Bill called out a rather surprised _"E-Eddie!"_ tinged with a laugh.

Upon retaking his seat, Richie was staring at Eddie as everyone else talked. Eddie sighed, "What is it now Richie?"

"That was the cutest shit I've ever seen," came the mumbled response. Eddie swore to himself that he wasn't going to blush yet _again_ , but clearly his body had other ideas.

"I'm, uhm, just doing what I was picked to do."

"And doing it in a damn cute way too." Eddie smiled softly and shook his head at Richie.

Bill returned to his seat, grinning ear to ear, as the last student was sorted- a hufflepuff. Eddie patter Bill on the back, before his attention was drawn to McGonagall at the front of the hall.

"Now, to our new students- welcome. To our old students, welcome back. Another year full of magical education awaits you-"

McGonagall's speech usually followed similar lines every year, but Eddie knew this one was gonna be different. _Shit_ , he said to himself. He'd forgotten to tell the others about the new teachers. Eddie allowed himself to zone out until he heard the speech take a new path.

"As I'm sure some students may have already discovered," McGonagall began, "This year we are welcoming two new teachers to our school." Eddie's friends all appeared to wake up from their bored fidgeting with those words, with even Richie straightening up to pay attention.

"I would like to welcome Professor Potter, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Head of Gryffindor House, and Professor Malfoy, our new Potions Teacher and Head of Slytherin House," McGonagall continued, as a door to the side of the teacher's table opened and the two very familiar men stepped out.

Eddie was in shock at this. Draco Malfoy _and_ Harry Potter were both going to be teaching him. Harry fucking potter was going to be his head of house. He idolised Draco Malfoy and his prowess at potions, striving to one day be as good as him. Something clicked in Eddie's head. Maybe he did know what he wanted to be after Hogwarts- a Healer.

Eddie grabbed his inhaler from one of the pockets in his robe and took a couple of hits from it, before Richie grabbed it off him and did the same. Eddie had to laugh at that, he had forgotten how much Richie idolised Harry Potter and how much of an amazing Auror he was, and how Richie was planning to be an auror when they left school.

As the shocked chatter finally died down, McGonagall spoke again, "As two past students, who were both involved in the War from two very different perspectives- neither of which they got a say in- I believe this next part of the welcome speech would be best passed onto our new professors," before stepping aside and allowing the two men to take the centre stage.

Before either had the chance to speak, Richie piped up, clearly not noticing the total silence that had fallen upon the hall. "This better not be one of these speeches about inter-house unity, if I don't get to bully my Eds for being a dumbass fucking Gryffindor-" There was a chorus of stifled laughs across the hall.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Eddie exclaimed, unable to resist.

"Both of you! Shut up!" Beverly whisper-yelled, causing Richie to realise the mistake he had just made.

"Fuck," he mumbled, his eyes wide and his head in his hands.

McGonagall cleared her throat from her seat, drawing the attention of the entire hall. Eddie could swear Professors Potter and Malfoy were grinning at each other.

"Mr Tozier," she spoke up, "I would advise keeping your voice down lest you wish to get points deducted off Slytherin and find yourself in Saturday detentions until Christmas before the school year has truly begun." Eddie couldn't help but giggle at that, until McGonagall opened her mouth again. "And Mr Kaspbrak?" Eddie whipped his head round to the front of the hall so hard he swore he got whiplash. "As a prefect, I expect that sort of language to be kept private and not shouted all over the hall, unless you wish to join Mr Tozier in detention." It was Richie's turn to laugh now. Eddie flipped him off, which Richie stuck his tongue out at. The rest of the Losers didn't look like they could hold their laughter in for much longer.

"My apologies, professors, do continue," McGonagall said.

Professor Potter cleated his throat, "Unfortunately for some, apparently, this is about house unity." Richie flushed at this.

Professor Malfoy took over, "As we lead up to a decade since the Battle of Hogwarts, which is a difficult event for the majority of us sitting in this room, it is more important than ever to change some aspects of our school to prevent students from only interacting with their housemates."

"Which is why," Professor Potter continued, "We have decided to introduce common rooms for each of the year groups that are separate from the house common rooms, which will hopefully encourage you all to make friends outside your houses as well as make it easier for you all to spend time with friends outside of your own house."

Richie opened his mouth before catching Eddie's eye and shutting it immediately.

"I would like to also highlight that this does not mean that houses no longer have a point, as I know as much as anyone else how much house pride really means," Professor Malfoy added, earning a smile and a quiet laugh from Professor Potter.

Eddie found himself zoning out, knowing he wasn't missing anything important, staring at Richie's fidgeting hands until he noticed the professors returning to their seats- joining in on the clapping.

Eddie had forgotten how much he loved the meals at Hogwarts. He had definitely missed them. His mum's meals were bland and repetitive, much like everything else in his home life. Meals in Hogwarts, however, were all made with seasonal ingredients and the food varied as the weeks went on.

The rest of the losers had their chance to laugh now, with Beverly laughing at what had just occurred until tears streamed down her face. Eddie and Richie were both still mortified.

"R-Richie how did you n-not notice the s-silence?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, what were you thinking man?" Mike chimed in.

"You could have lost us house points already!" Stan tried to scold, but he was laughing too.

"Stan has a point," Ben said, still grinning but ever the sensible one, "He's the first Slytherin head boy in Merlin knows how many years and that could have looked really bad."

Richie's eyes widened and he gulped. "I think I may have finally learnt my lesson..." he trailed off, pausing before continuing, "Only about the Great Hall though."

Eddie rolled his eyes, "You had my hopes up about peaceful classes there."

"Sorry to disappoint, my dear Eds, but you still get to enjoy my sparkling wit." Eddie couldn't help but laugh, as hard as he tried.

"Can we talk about the main thing here though?" Mike said, "We have a shared common room now!"

"No more crowding into dorm rooms and pissing everyone off," Eddie mused.

"No, I'm still going to do that," Richie said, clearly serious.

"Nuh-uh, Bill and I were almost murdered last time."

"Y-yeah, we didn't t-think we'd be a-allowed back in our own d-dorm."

"I'll just avoid the firewhiskey then." Richie sighed, before furrowing his eyebrows, "Hold on, that was as much Eddie's own fault as it was mine."

Eddie glared at him. "And who got me that drunk?"

"Honestly? all of us," Beverly chimed in.

"Let's not talk about _that_ ," Eddie sighed.

The group were talking about the infamous New Year's Eve party that was held in their sixth year, in which Eddie (who was usually quiet and reserved) made out with six different boys in the year above and hooked up with one- thus outing himself as gay to everyone. None of the Losers apart from Bill and Stan had known before that (with neither of them knowing about what Eddie had been doing on the down low), with Richie being pretty hurt by the fact he wasn't told too. Eddie hadn't known how to tell Richie, seeing as he had worked out his sexuality due to his massive crush on him. Eddie could have almost swore Richie had seemed jealous from the little he remembered, but that's ridiculous.

Eddie also punched Patrick Hockstetter in the face a week later for making crude taunts about his sexuality and then swiftly hexed him when he was on the ground, gaining him respect amongst a lot of other students. He didn't know if being reminded of that was better or worse than his drunken antics.

"C'mon Eds, that was a side to you we've only seen once, of course we're gonna joke about it."

"At least until the next time it happens," Stan added.

Eddie's eyes widened. "No, absolutely not. It isn't happening again," he squealed.

"We'll see," Richie hummed.

"What's that meant to mean?" Eddie asked.

"I m-mean, we're still g-going to the party t-this new year's, r-right?" Bill added.

"Duh, it's our last year," Beverly said.

"I am _definitely_ not drinking firewhiskey." Eddie said, crossing his arms.

"Shit then," Richie grinned. "Stan, it's your turn to be the gay disaster."

Everyone laughed, even Stan- albeit shyly.

"I think I'd rather go under the Cruciatus curse."

Eddie really didn't know how he was expected to cope when this year ended. He'd never felt more at home than with his friends in Hogwarts, free from his mum's smothering for almost a whole year- seeing as he'd stopped going home for Christmas.

This year, Eddie had decided, he was going to be more carefree- he was going to try his best to shrug off the hypochondria passed in front his mother and enjoy his last year.

In fact, Eddie had forgotten all about his mum's eerie warning in the car- at least for now.


End file.
